The First Word: Fracas

On this day – the entire House begins consideration of controversial Voter ID legislation; a possible budget rebellion in the Senate might have new company – rural Republicans; the Senate will begin marking up its budget proposal this week as Lt. Gov Dewhurst’s committee on ‘non-tax’ revenue prepares to get to work; and a Chris Bell advisor says the Democrats don’t have a message.

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***Voter ID – Take Two

Tell me if you’ve seen this movie before — Republicans introduce a piece of legisiation that Democrats have been able to block before, but with the overwhelming Republican majority in the House, passage is almost assured. That won’t stop the Democrats from offering up a seemingly endless parade of amendments in an attempt to score political points against an inevitable Republican win.

As Omar Little would say, “It’s all in the game, yo. It’s all in the game.”

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***Republican Rebellion

Democrats have made no secret of the fact they are ardently opposed to the budget cuts as laid out in both the House and Senate versions of the budget. Now, rural Republicans may be getting ready to rebel as well, Texas Monthly’s Paul Burka reported in the comments section of his blog Saturday evening.

The comment was made beneath a longer post about whether or not it would be smart for the Democrats to use the two-thirds rule in the Senate to hold up the budget because it might give Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, an opportunity to argue to his fellow Republicans to do away with the rule next session.

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***Balancing Act

Sen. Florence Shapiro, who’s in charge of the Senate subcommittee on overhauling public education funding, has said that the Senate wants to cut no more than $4 billion from public education. Where is the Senate going to find the money to reduce the proposed cuts to education by some 60 percent?

That answer to that question may be found in a special subcommittee that Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has formed to attempt to identify $5 billion in non-tax revenues to help fill the $15-$27 billion budget shortfall.

The Statesman’s editorial board reported that the panel might recommend that the state sell office buildings and land to help cover the difference.

To help plug its massive budget deficit last year, California considered selling a number of state office buildings, fairgrounds and other assets. However, Gov. Jerry Brown undid many of those sell-leaseback deals after budget analysis showed they would end up costing the state more in the long run.

That note aside, the House Appropriations Committee ordered their markup on their base budget printed last week and committee chairman Rep. Jim Pitts has said that he expects the committee to vote out the House budget this week. Meanwhile, in the Senate, the Finance Committee is expected to begin marking up their version of the base budget this week.

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***Bell Advisor Says, “What Message?”

“As near as I can tell, it (Democrats’ message) is that we’re not in charge, so we’re not to blame for anything, but we are having some positive effect on the process. It’s perhaps a bit less than stirring,” Democratic consultant Jason Stanford told bureau chief Peggy Fikac.

Stanford’s advice? Democrats shouldn’t give the Republicans the votes they need to pass a budget that uses the Rainy Day Fund. He says since the Democrats don’t have the votes to influence the process, they should make Republicans own the cuts and the potential political fallout.